Before It Scales

Cyan Ventures

Before It Scales is a podcast at the intersection of project development, policy, and capital markets. It's built for developers, investors, policymakers, and offtakers who are shaping Australia and the world’s clean energy transition. Each episode goes deep on what it takes to make a high-priority clean energy project bankable: not in theory, but in practice, and not just in Australia, but globally — drawing on the deal-makers, developers, and policymakers who have done it.

Episodes

  1. 4d ago

    The three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle of first-of-a-kind, with Dave Stribley (HAMR Energy)

    Australia takes 30 to 40 percent of its primary energy from liquid fuels. Dave Stribley's view is that we have barely started replacing them. Dave is co-founder of HAMR Energy, a low-carbon liquid fuels platform. He spent 15 years at ExxonMobil, ten of them on the Bass Strait assets and three in Qatar on LNG mega trains. He came back to Australia to help decommission Bass Strait, then left with Alex Smith to build HAMR. HAMR's flagship Portland Renewable Fuels project turns forestry residue from the Green Triangle into renewable methanol. A second facility in South Australia upgrades that methanol into sustainable aviation fuel. Total investment is around $1.8 billion, and the product is not yet a traded commodity. Joy McConnochie and Fraser Thompson cover the following with Dave: Leaving ExxonMobil, and the gap the founders saw in liquid fuelsWhat HAMR Energy does, and why HAMR Fuels existsThe Series A: Qantas, Airbus and thyssenkrupp Uhde as shareholdersPortland Renewable Fuels: forestry residue, hydrogen and methanolWhy methanol, and the commercial flexibility it buysThe hub and spoke model, and the limits of the mega trainFeedstock: the Green Triangle, and what comes after itThe BHP biofuel trial with Berge Bulk and GCMDThe partnerships that got the projects this farWhy a demand signal matters more than more supply-side fundingSulphur, lead, and valuing the externalityWhat a credible Australian demand mechanism needsThe Investor Front Door, from the insideThe three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle of FOAKFinancing $1.8 billion in an undeveloped marketRisk, and the better conversation to have with governmentWhat first-of-a-kind changes, and what it does notAdvice for other first-of-a-kind developersSupply chains, ecosystems, and the China cost questionKathmandu to Everest: what Dave is excited about      For the projects, deals and policy shaping clean industry, subscribe to the Cyan newsletter: https://cyan-ventures.beehiiv.com/ Key links: HAMR Energy: https://www.hamrenergy.com/Investor Front Door: https://www.industry.gov.au/investor-front-doorCleaner Fuels Program: https://arena.gov.au/funding/cleaner-fuels-program/Not covered in this episode, HAMR has secured up to $32M in ARENA funding in July 2026: https://arena.gov.au/assets/2026/07/ARENA-Media-Release_HAMR_22072026_FINAL.pdfShow notes: https://cyanventures.com.au/podcast/episode-5/Watch the video: https://youtu.be/jE8M9ESdvMY

    The three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle of first-of-a-kind, with Dave Stribley (HAMR Energy)

  2. Jul 27

    Backing the breakthrough: Mike Molinari on picking climate winners

    Most clean industrial projects start as science in a university lab. Someone has to back that science years before it makes a dollar. Mike Molinari does exactly that. Mike is the Managing Director of IP Group Australia, one of the most active early-stage deep tech investors in the country. IP Group partners with Australia's leading research universities, finds breakthrough science, and backs it from the university lab through to scale. Its Australian team manages just over half a billion dollars. Joy McConnochie sits down with Mike to open up how deep tech investing actually works. They get into IP Group's evergreen structure and why being "patient but not lazy" matters when a technology takes longer than seven years to mature, how the team backed Hysata's record-breaking electrolyser out of a University of Wollongong lab, the new $50 million Climate Catalyst Fund and why Mike thinks the AI boom is exactly what makes now the moment to back climate tech, and the first-of-a-kind funding gap that strands good technology between the lab and the market. We cover·       The IP Group model, and how it differs from typical venture capital ·       The evergreen structure: why patient but not lazy capital matters ·       Backing Hysata: spotting a record-breaking electrolyser early ·       Technology risk versus market risk, and the first-of-a-kind translation gap ·       The Climate Catalyst Fund, and why the AI boom makes now the moment ·       Decarbonising the mineral supply chain: lithium, and the copper tailings opportunity ·       Diligence with no revenue, and the red flags that make them walk away ·       Policy: Future Made in Australia, ARENA, and the need for stability ·       Keeping companies Australian while selling to the world ·       Unlocking institutional capital: super funds and the Hostplus model For the projects, deals and policy shaping clean industry, subscribe to the Cyan newsletter: https://cyan-ventures.beehiiv.com/ Key Links: IP Group Australia: https://www.ipgroupanz.comShow notes: https://cyanventures.com.au/podcast/episode-4/Watch the video: https://youtu.be/dO9IQY5LBxQ

    Backing the breakthrough: Mike Molinari on picking climate winners

  3. Jul 14

    Climate and energy policy for all, with Thom Woodroofe

    Australia has four million homes with rooftop solar and the highest penetration of the technology in the world. Renters and people in apartments have mostly been left out. That gap sits at the centre of Thom Woodroofe's new book. Thom is a climate diplomat turned policy strategist. He helped secure the Paris Agreement, advised former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in Washington, and built the Asia Society's China Climate Hub. He is now a Senior International Fellow at the Smart Energy Council. His book is Power, Prosperity and Planet: Climate and Energy Policy for All. Joy McConnochie and Fraser Thompson sit down with him to work through the argument that the climate movement won the case on the science but has not built the coalition to carry the transition. They get into how to make solar and batteries reach renters, why regional towns like Gladstone and Townsville vital to include, why Australia has no other industry (beyond the suite of new clean industries) ready to replace coal and LNG, and how to work with China without picking a side. For the projects, deals and policy shaping clean industry, subscribe to the Cyan newsletter: https://cyan-ventures.beehiiv.com/ Key links: ·       Show notes for this episode - https://cyanventures.com.au/podcast/episode-3/ ·       Watch the video - https://youtu.be/YWZzcZAekzs?si=3uljCDQ_d1TGmViW ·       Power, Prosperity and Planet, Monash University Publishing - https://publishing.monash.edu/product/power-prosperity-planet/ ·       Thom Woodroofe - https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomwoodroofe/ ·       Smart Energy Council -https://smartenergy.org.au/ ·       Future Made in Australia - https://treasury.gov.au/policy-topics/future-made-australia

    Climate and energy policy for all, with Thom Woodroofe

  4. Jun 29

    Inside the clean industry pipeline with Faustine Delasalle, Mission Possible Partnership

    In the last six months, 19 commercial-scale clean industrial projects reached final investment decision, worth USD $43 billion. That is more than double the pace of a year earlier, and 2026 is on track to be the strongest year yet for clean industry investment.  Faustine Delasalle is the CEO of the Mission Possible Partnership, the organisation tracking the global pipeline of clean steel, cement, chemicals and fuels projects. MPP recently released the fifth edition of its Global Project Tracker. Joy McConnochie and Shaun Chau sit down with her to work through what the data shows and what it means for Australia.  They cover why China now holds 45% of projects past FID and why that is hard to copy, why demand, not technology, is the barrier holding projects back, how Green Market Makers like H2Global bridge the green premium, the "5% tipping point" that turns slow growth into fast, and what Australia's 70-project pipeline needs to get moving. Cyan and MPP are building a Clean Deal Tracker for Australia together.  For the projects, deals and policy shaping clean industry, subscribe to the Cyan newsletter: https://cyan-ventures.beehiiv.com/  Key Links:   Mission Possible Partnership: https://www.missionpossiblepartnership.org Clean Industry Rising, the Global Project Tracker 5th edition: https://missionpossiblepartnership.org/clean-industry-rising-interactive-report/ H2Global: https://www.h2-global.org Show notes: https://cyanventures.com.au/podcast/episode-2/Watch the video: https://youtu.be/saRUMnrMBFw

    Inside the clean industry pipeline with Faustine Delasalle, Mission Possible Partnership

  5. Apr 28

    Introducing Before It Scales: 7 Myths About FOAK

    What is a first-of-a-kind clean energy project, and why do they keep stalling? The IEA estimates that about 35% of the emissions reductions needed by 2050 depend on technologies that aren't even commercially available yet. Australia has the endowments to lead on these projects. So why aren't they getting built? In the first episode of Before It Scales, Joy McConnochie, Fraser Thompson, and Shaun Chau take on 7 myths about FOAK. Why it's not a technology problem. Why strong fundamentals alone won't attract capital. Why grants aren't enough. Why regulation gets too much of the blame. Why Australia can't afford to sit back and wait. Why green premiums won't fall on their own. And why the window for action is shorter than most people think. Before It Scales is produced by Cyan Ventures: https://cyanventures.com.au/ Sign up to our newsletter for episode clips, show notes, and updates: https://cyan-ventures.beehiiv.com/

    Introducing Before It Scales: 7 Myths About FOAK
  • 5 Episodes

About

Before It Scales is a podcast at the intersection of project development, policy, and capital markets. It's built for developers, investors, policymakers, and offtakers who are shaping Australia and the world’s clean energy transition. Each episode goes deep on what it takes to make a high-priority clean energy project bankable: not in theory, but in practice, and not just in Australia, but globally — drawing on the deal-makers, developers, and policymakers who have done it.

Information

  • Creator
    Cyan Ventures
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    5
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Cyan Ventures
  • Show Website
    Before It Scales